Leon Panetta defends Pentagon response after Benghazi attack

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday gave a forceful defense of the Pentagon’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, arguing the government “spared no effort to save American lives.”

Panetta, who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, said a surveillance drone was directed to reposition over the consulate within 17 minutes of the attack.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Panetta testifes on Benghazi

But Panetta also acknowledged the limits to American military force and the intelligence that supports it. In his opening remarks, he pointed out that there were no “specific indications of an imminent attack” on Sept. 11.

“Without adequate warning, there was not enough time given the speed of the attack for armed military assets to respond,” Panetta told the committee.

Dempsey added that the attacks in Benghazi needed to be viewed in the broader context of threats faced that day.

“Although today we are focused on Benghazi, we must not forget that it was 9/11 everywhere,” Dempsey said in prepared remarks. “On that day, we were postured to respond to a wide array of general threats around the globe.”

The attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were actually two short attacks — one on the consulate and the other on an annex — that took place six hours apart, Panetta said. “This was not a prolonged assault which could have been brought to an end by a U.S. military response,” he added.

On the day of attacks, Panetta said he alerted Marine platoons and special operations forces and participated in coordinating the evacuation of all remaining U.S. government personnel from Benghazi within 12 hours of the initial attack.

Panetta and Dempsey asserted that steps had been taken to work on security for U.S. facilities and on enhancing American intelligence capabilities.

“The United States military is not, and should not, be a global 911 service, capable of arriving on the scene within minutes to every possible contingency around the world,” Panetta said, adding that responses depend on actionable intelligence.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), however, went after Dempsey for giving “one of the more bizarre statements that I have ever seen in my years in this committee.”

McCain claimed the military had not been “appropriately responsive,” as Dempsey claimed in his opening remarks to the committee. The facilities in Benghazi, McCain said, could have been easily reached and more quickly assisted by U.S. forces.